Saturday, September 7, 2013

Cambodian opposition rally pushes for poll probe

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia — Nearly
20,000 opposition supporters gathered Saturday in Cambodia's capital to
cheer their leaders' demands for an investigation into alleged election
irregularities, just a day before the victory of Prime Minister Hun
Sen's ruling party is to be ratified.

Final results from the vote
six weeks ago gave 68 National Assembly seats to Hun Sen's Cambodian
People's Party and 55 to the opposition Cambodia National Rescue Party.
The opposition says it would have won the majority of seats had the
election been fair.

The opposition says protests will continue
until an independent committee look into claims of voter
disenfranchisement and vote tampering in the July 28 election. However,
the government-appointed National Election Committee has rejected the
demand, and Hun Sen has made it clear he intends to take office and
continue his 28 years in power.

The 55 seats won by the opposition
represent a sharp improvement on the 29 it held in the last assembly,
and its strong performance — also reflected in a close popular vote —
came as a surprise. The party has suggested its lawmakers may boycott
the assembly sessions in protest at the failure to investigate its
claims of unfairness.

The new parliament is supposed to be seated
within 60 days of the election, and ruling party leaders say it can
convene without the opposition.

Opposition leaders have emphasized non-violence, amid concerns about
violence raised by the government's deployment of troops and armored
vehicles to the capital days after the election. Hun Sen has a
reputation for dealing harshly with opponents.

The government, through sympathetic media outlets, had played up fears of violence in an obvious effort to discourage protests.

Saturday's
demonstration, however, was peaceful, with opposition supporters
holding up signs with messages such as "My Vote, My nation" and "There
is justice, there is peace."

Opposition leader Sam Rainsy told the
crowd that the Cambodian people have suffered from a culture of
violence for 40 years, and that should end now.

Cambodia plunged
into civil war in 1970, and experienced the holocaust of Khmer Rouge
rule in the late 1970s, when an estimated 1.7 million people died as a
result of their radical communist policies. Under Hun Sen, a culture of
violence and intimidation of the poor and powerless has been widespread.

In
recent years, land grabbing by government cronies has led to forced
evictions, sometimes accompanied by deadly violence. The issue has
caused popular resentment, to the political benefit of the opposition.

"Today,
Cambodia is opening a new page, the page of ending the culture of
violence," Sam Rainsy said, with the crowd echoing his words with a
cheer of "End violence."

Several monks attended the demonstration,
despite a ban against doing so by Cambodia's top Buddhist authority.
One monk, Ngim Saossamkhan, said he was aware of the ban but believed he
had a right to attend. "As monks, we can't be part of any party, but I
support peace," he said.

Demonstrators dispersed after several
hours, but opposition leaders say they will gather again tomorrow unless
the National Election Committee yields. They have asked that any
announcement of the results be postponed, and have called on Cambodia's
king, Norodom Sihamoni, to intervene.

Observers do not expect
clashes between demonstrators and security forces, as occurred after
some past elections, but political analyst Kem Ley said the risk of
violence might grow if opposition protests continue for many days.

Chan
Aunleng, a 24-year-old student demonstrator holding a Cambodian flag,
said she did not think the demonstrations would sway the National
Election Committee, but that she would join future protests "for real
democracy."